The Satanic Rites of Dracula
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| The Satanic Rites of Dracula | |
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 The Satanic Rites of Dracula DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Alan Gibson |
| Produced by | Roy Skeggs |
| Written by | Don Houghton |
| Starring | Christopher Lee Peter Cushing |
| Music by | John Cacavas |
| Cinematography | Brian Probyn |
| Editing by | Chris Barnes |
| Distributed by | Hammer Studios |
| Release date(s) | January 13, 1974 |
| Running time | 87 min. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dracula AD 1972 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1974 Hammer Horror film directed by Alan Gibson, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It is the eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the seventh film to star Christopher Lee in the title role.
The original music score was composed by John Cacavas. In the United States, the film was distributed as Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride. It is also marketed with the tagline "Evil begets evil on the sabbath of the undead!"
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[edit] Production
Work began on what was tentatively titled Dracula is Dead and Well and Living in London in November 1972. Speaking at a press conference in 1973 to announce the film, Christopher Lee said:
- "I'm doing it under protest ... I think it is fatuous. I can think of twenty adjectives — fatuous, pointless, absurd. It's not a comedy, but it's got a comic title. I don't see the point."
The film was eventually retitled as The Satanic Rites of Dracula. It is a mixture of science fiction, horror and spy thriller with a screenplay by Don Houghton, a veteran of BBC television's Doctor Who. It wrapped on January 3, 1973 — 15 years to the day since the original Hammer Dracula wrapped — Lee would only play Dracula one more time, in a French comedy titled Dracula père et fils (Dracula father and son) [1976].
[edit] Plot synopsis
A police investigation uncovers four prominent government ministers involved in a satanic cult in London. Scotland Yard and the Secret Service call in Lorrimer Van Helsing, who recognizes his friend Julian Keeley as one of the conspirators, to investigate these reports. Van Helsing and his grand-daughter Jessica are drawn into the investigation at a mysterious bacteriological research institute where they discover several vampire women chained up in the cellar.
Van Helsing also discovers that the cult leader, a reclusive property developer named D. D. Denham, is in reality Count Dracula with plans to bring about his own death by wiping out life on Earth with a virus. Van Helsing and Dracula engage in their final duel, and the Dracula cycle reaches its anticlimatic and somewhat risible finale when the Prince of Darkness somehow gets fatally entangled in a bush on a piece of wasteground in suburbia.
[edit] Cast
- Christopher Lee (Count Dracula)
- Peter Cushing (Lorrimer Van Helsing)
- Michael Coles (Inspector Murray)
- William Franklyn (Torrence)
- Freddie Jones (Julian Keeley)
- Joanna Lumley (Jessica Van Helsing)
- Richard Vernon (Colonel Mathews)
- Patrick Barr (Lord Carradine)
[edit] References
- Rigby, Jonathan, (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-01-3.
- Haining, Peter (1992). The Dracula Scrapbook. Chancellor Press. ISBN 1-85152-195-X.
[edit] External links
- The Satanic Rites of Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
- The Satanic Rites of Dracula at All Movie Guide
- Online Review
Dracula (1958) • The Brides of Dracula (1960) • Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) • Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) • Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) • Scars of Dracula (1970) • Dracula AD 1972 (1972) • The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
